Pavel Haas
Encyclopedia
Pavel Haas was a Czech
composer
who was murdered during the Holocaust
. He was an exponent of Leoš Janáček
's school of composition, and also utilized elements of folk music
and jazz
. Although his output was not large, he is notable particularly for his song cycle
s and string quartet
s.
, into a Jewish family. His father, Zikmund, was a shoemaker by trade, while his mother, Olga (née Epstein), was of Russian origin (born in Odessa
). Haas began his formal musical education at the age of 14, and studied composition at the Brno Conservatory
from 1919 to 1921 under Jan Kunc
and Vilém Petrželka
. This was followed by two years of study in the master class
of the noted Czech composer Leoš Janáček. Janáček was far and away Haas' most influential teacher, and Haas, in turn, proved to be Janáček's best student. In 1935 he married Soňa Jakobson, the former wife of Russian linguist Roman Jakobson
.
Of the more than 50 works Haas wrote during the next two decades, only 18 were given opus numbers by the self-critical composer himself. While still working in his father's business, he wrote musical works of all kinds, including symphonic
and choral
works, lied
er, chamber music
, and scores for cinema
and theatre
. His opera
, Šarlatán
(The Charlatan), was first performed in Brno to great acclaim in April 1938. He received the Smetana Foundation award for the opera (sharing the award with Vítězslava Kaprálová
).
(Terezín). He was one of several Czech-Jewish composers there, including Viktor Ullmann
, Gideon Klein
and Hans Krása
. Prior to his arrest, he had officially divorced his wife Soňa in order that she and their young daughter would not suffer a similar fate. On his arrival, he became very depressed and had to be coaxed into composition by Gideon Klein
. However, Haas wrote at least eight compositions in the camp, only a few of which have survived. They include a set of Four Songs on Chinese Poetry for baritone and piano and the Study for String Orchestra which was premiered in Theresienstadt under the Czech conductor Karel Ančerl
and is probably Haas' best-known work today. The orchestral parts were found by Ančerl after the liberation of Theresienstadt and the score reconstructed.
In 1944 the Nazis remodeled Theresienstadt just before a visit from the Red Cross, and a propaganda film, Der Führer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt (The Führer Gives the Jews a City), was made by director Kurt Gerron
, under the coercion of the camp commandant, Karl Rahm
. In the film, Theresienstadt
, children are seen singing Krása
's opera, Brundibar
, and Haas can be seen taking a bow after a performance, conducted by Karel Ančerl
, of his Study for Strings. When the propaganda project was over, the Nazis transferred 18,000 prisoners, including Haas and the children who had sung in Brundibar, to Auschwitz-Birkenau
, where they were murdered in the gas chamber
s. According to the testimony of Karel Ančerl, Haas stood next to him after their arrival at Auschwitz. Doctor Mengele
was about to send Ančerl to the gas chamber first, but the weakened Haas began to cough, so the death sentence was therefore chosen for him, instead. After the war Ančerl met with Haas' brother Hugo and told him the story.
n and Moravia
n roots, is sometimes tinted by Hebrew
melody.
Haas has been described as "a reserved but eloquent student of Janáček" by Alex Ross
in his history of classical music in the 20th century, The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century.
His brother Hugo Haas
(1901–1968) was popular actor in pre-war Czechoslovakia.
The whole music written in Concentration Camps (including P. Haas' Study for Orchestra, 4 Chinese Songs and Al s'fod) are contained in the CD-Encyclopedia KZ MUSIK created by Francesco Lotoro (Musikstrasse Roma- Membran Hamburg), 2007
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
who was murdered during the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
. He was an exponent of Leoš Janáček
Leoš Janácek
Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
's school of composition, and also utilized elements of folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
. Although his output was not large, he is notable particularly for his song cycle
Song cycle
A song cycle is a group of songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a single entity. As a rule, all of the songs are by the same composer and often use words from the same poet or lyricist. Unification can be achieved by a narrative or a persona common to the songs, or even, as in Schumann's...
s and string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
s.
Pre-war
Haas was born in BrnoBrno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
, into a Jewish family. His father, Zikmund, was a shoemaker by trade, while his mother, Olga (née Epstein), was of Russian origin (born in Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
). Haas began his formal musical education at the age of 14, and studied composition at the Brno Conservatory
Brno Conservatory
The Brno Conservatory, also Brno Conservatoire , was established in Brno on 25 September 1919 by Moravian composer Leoš Janáček.- History :...
from 1919 to 1921 under Jan Kunc
Jan Kunc
Jan Kunc was a Czech composer, pedagogue and writer.- Life :He was a pupil of Czech composer Leoš Janáček in teacher's institution and organ school . He studied composition with Vítězslav Novák from 1905 to 1906...
and Vilém Petrželka
Vilém Petrželka
Vilém Petrželka was a prominent Czech composer and conductor.Petrželka was a pupil of Leoš Janáček, Vítězslav Novák and Karel Hoffmeister...
. This was followed by two years of study in the master class
Master class
A master class is a class given to students of a particular discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also painting, drama, or any of the arts....
of the noted Czech composer Leoš Janáček. Janáček was far and away Haas' most influential teacher, and Haas, in turn, proved to be Janáček's best student. In 1935 he married Soňa Jakobson, the former wife of Russian linguist Roman Jakobson
Roman Jakobson
Roman Osipovich Jakobson was a Russian linguist and literary theorist.As a pioneer of the structural analysis of language, which became the dominant trend of twentieth-century linguistics, Jakobson was among the most influential linguists of the century...
.
Of the more than 50 works Haas wrote during the next two decades, only 18 were given opus numbers by the self-critical composer himself. While still working in his father's business, he wrote musical works of all kinds, including symphonic
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
and choral
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
works, lied
Lied
is a German word literally meaning "song", usually used to describe romantic songs setting German poems of reasonably high literary aspirations, especially during the nineteenth century, beginning with Carl Loewe, Heinrich Marschner, and Franz Schubert and culminating with Hugo Wolf...
er, chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, and scores for cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
. His opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, Šarlatán
Šarlatán
Šarlatán , Op. 14, is a tragicomic opera in three acts by Pavel Haas to his own Czech libretto, after a 1929 German-language novel, Doktor Eisenbart, by Josef Winckler , which was based on the life of the travelling surgeon Johann Andreas Eisenbarth.- Performance history :The opera was composed...
(The Charlatan), was first performed in Brno to great acclaim in April 1938. He received the Smetana Foundation award for the opera (sharing the award with Vítězslava Kaprálová
Vítezslava Kaprálová
Vítězslava Kaprálová was a Czech composer and conductor. Among her teachers were some of the best European composers and conductors of the time - Bohuslav Martinů, Václav Talich, and Charles Münch.-Life:She was a daughter of composer Václav Kaprál...
).
The war
In 1941, Haas was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration campTheresienstadt concentration camp
Theresienstadt concentration camp was a Nazi German ghetto during World War II. It was established by the Gestapo in the fortress and garrison city of Terezín , located in what is now the Czech Republic.-History:The fortress of Terezín was constructed between the years 1780 and 1790 by the orders...
(Terezín). He was one of several Czech-Jewish composers there, including Viktor Ullmann
Viktor Ullmann
Viktor Ullmann was a Silesia-born Austrian, later Czech composer, conductor and pianist of Jewish origin.- Biography :...
, Gideon Klein
Gideon Klein
Gideon Klein was a Czech pianist and composer of classical music, organizer of cultural life in Theresienstadt concentration camp.-Life:...
and Hans Krása
Hans Krása
Hans Krása was a Czech composer who was killed in the Holocaust at Auschwitz. He helped to organize cultural life in Theresienstadt concentration camp.-Life:...
. Prior to his arrest, he had officially divorced his wife Soňa in order that she and their young daughter would not suffer a similar fate. On his arrival, he became very depressed and had to be coaxed into composition by Gideon Klein
Gideon Klein
Gideon Klein was a Czech pianist and composer of classical music, organizer of cultural life in Theresienstadt concentration camp.-Life:...
. However, Haas wrote at least eight compositions in the camp, only a few of which have survived. They include a set of Four Songs on Chinese Poetry for baritone and piano and the Study for String Orchestra which was premiered in Theresienstadt under the Czech conductor Karel Ančerl
Karel Ancerl
Karel Ančerl , was a Czech conductor, known for his performances of contemporary music and for his interpretations of music by Czech composers...
and is probably Haas' best-known work today. The orchestral parts were found by Ančerl after the liberation of Theresienstadt and the score reconstructed.
In 1944 the Nazis remodeled Theresienstadt just before a visit from the Red Cross, and a propaganda film, Der Führer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt (The Führer Gives the Jews a City), was made by director Kurt Gerron
Kurt Gerron
Kurt Gerron was a German Jewish actor and film director.-Life:Born Kurt Gerson into a well-off merchant family in Berlin, he initially studied medicine but was called up for military service in World War I. Seriously wounded he qualified as a military doctor of the German Army...
, under the coercion of the camp commandant, Karl Rahm
Karl Rahm
Karl Rahm was a Sturmbannführer in the German Schutzstaffel who, from February 1944 to May 1945, served as the Commandant of the Theresienstadt concentration camp...
. In the film, Theresienstadt
Theresienstadt (film)
Theresienstadt. Ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem jüdischen Siedlungsgebiet was a black and white projected Nazi propaganda film shot in the concentration camp of Theresienstadt....
, children are seen singing Krása
Hans Krása
Hans Krása was a Czech composer who was killed in the Holocaust at Auschwitz. He helped to organize cultural life in Theresienstadt concentration camp.-Life:...
's opera, Brundibar
Brundibár
Brundibár is a children's opera by Jewish Czech composer Hans Krása with a libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister, originally performed by the children of Theresienstadt concentration camp in occupied Czechoslovakia...
, and Haas can be seen taking a bow after a performance, conducted by Karel Ančerl
Karel Ancerl
Karel Ančerl , was a Czech conductor, known for his performances of contemporary music and for his interpretations of music by Czech composers...
, of his Study for Strings. When the propaganda project was over, the Nazis transferred 18,000 prisoners, including Haas and the children who had sung in Brundibar, to Auschwitz-Birkenau
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
, where they were murdered in the gas chamber
Gas chamber
A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used...
s. According to the testimony of Karel Ančerl, Haas stood next to him after their arrival at Auschwitz. Doctor Mengele
Josef Mengele
Josef Rudolf Mengele , also known as the Angel of Death was a German SS officer and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He earned doctorates in anthropology from Munich University and in medicine from Frankfurt University...
was about to send Ančerl to the gas chamber first, but the weakened Haas began to cough, so the death sentence was therefore chosen for him, instead. After the war Ančerl met with Haas' brother Hugo and told him the story.
Post-war
Haas' large-scale symphony, which he began prior to his deportation to Theresienstadt, remained unfinished, but the surviving torso was orchestrated by Zdeněk Zouhar in 1994. Haas's music, stemming from BohemiaBohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
n and Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
n roots, is sometimes tinted by Hebrew
Hebrews
Hebrews is an ethnonym used in the Hebrew Bible...
melody.
Haas has been described as "a reserved but eloquent student of Janáček" by Alex Ross
Alex Ross (New Yorker critic)
Alex Ross is an American music critic. He has been on the staff of The New Yorker magazine since 1996 and published a critically acclaimed book on 20th-century classical music in 2007, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century....
in his history of classical music in the 20th century, The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century.
His brother Hugo Haas
Hugo Haas
Hugo Haas was a Czech film actor, director and writer. He appeared in over 60 films between 1926 and 1962, as well as directing 20 films between 1933 and 1962....
(1901–1968) was popular actor in pre-war Czechoslovakia.
Works
Principal publishers: Bote & Bock / Tempo / Boosey & Hawkes / Sádlo| Opus | Date | Czech Title | English Title | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1918–1919 | Šest písní v lidovém tónu | Six Songs in Folk Tone | for soprano and piano; orchestrated 1938 |
| 2 | 1919–1920 | Tři písně | Three Songs | for soprano and piano; words by Josef Svatopluk Machar Josef Svatopluk Machar Josef Svatopluk Machar was a Czech poet and essayist. A a leader of the realist movement in Czech poetry and a master of colloquial Czech, Machar was active in anti-Austrian political circles in Vienna. Many of his poems were satires of political and social conditions... |
| 3 | 1920 | Smyčcový kvartet č.1 | String Quartet No.1 in C Minor | |
| 4 | 1919 | Čínské písně | Chinese Songs | for alto and piano; words by Kao Shi, Tsui Hao, Thu Fu |
| 5 | 1921 | Zesmutnělé scherzo | Scherzo triste | for orchestra |
| 6 | 1923 | „Fata morgana“ Klavírní kvintet se sólovým zpěvákem tenorového hlasu |
"Fata morgana" | for piano quintet with tenor solo; words by Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature... |
| 7 | 1925 | Smyčcový kvartet č.2 „Z opičích hor“ | String Quartet No.2 "From the Monkey Mountains" String Quartet No. 2 (Haas) Pavel Haas composed his second string quartet, Op. 7, titled "From the Monkey Mountains" , in 1925, three years after he finished his composition studies in Leoš Janáček´s masterclass.- Background :... |
|
| 8 | 1927 | Vyvolená | The Chosen One | for tenor, flute, horn, violin and piano; poems by Jiří Wolker Jirí Wolker Jiří Wolker was a Czech poet, journalist and playwright. He was one of the founding members of CPC - Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1921.- Life :... |
| 9 | 1928–1929 | Karneval | Carnival | for male chorus; words by Dalibor Chalupa |
| 10 | 1929 | Dechový kvintet | Wind Quintet | |
| 11 | 1931 | Předehra pro rozhlas | Overture for Radio | for orchestra |
| 12 | 1932 | Žalm 29 | Psalm XXIX | for baritone, female chorus and chamber orchestra with organ |
| – | 1933 | Život je pes Life Is a Dog -Cast:* Hugo Haas as Skladatel Viktor Honzl / Prof. Alfréd Rokos* Theodor Pištěk as Hynek Durdys* Adina Mandlová as Eva Durdysová* Svetla Svozilová as Helena Durdysová* Ferdinand Hart as Ralph Morrison* Alois Dvorský as Pan domácí... |
Life Is a Dog | music for the film |
| – | 1934 | Mazlíček The Little Pet -Cast:* Hugo Haas as Dr. Alois Pech, vezenský knihovník* Adina Mandlová as Marcella Johnová* Frantisek Kreuzmann as Pospísil* Helena Busová* Jan Marek as Beggar* Jaroslav Marvan* Stanislav Neumann* Antonín Novotný* Ema Pechová* Václav Trégl... |
The Little Pet | music for the film |
| 13 | 1935 | Suita pro klavír | Suite for Piano | |
| 14 | 1936 | Šarlatán | The Charlatan Šarlatán Šarlatán , Op. 14, is a tragicomic opera in three acts by Pavel Haas to his own Czech libretto, after a 1929 German-language novel, Doktor Eisenbart, by Josef Winckler , which was based on the life of the travelling surgeon Johann Andreas Eisenbarth.- Performance history :The opera was composed... |
opera in 3 acts; libretto by the composer |
| – | 1937 | Kvočna | Mother-Hen | music for the film |
| – | 1937 | Allegro moderato | Allegro moderato | for piano |
| 15 | 1937–1938 | Smyčcový kvartet č.3 | String Quartet No.3 | |
| 16 | ||||
| 17 | 1939 | Suita pro hoboj a klavír | Suite for Oboe and Piano | |
| 18 | 1940 | Sedm písní v lidovém tónu | 7 Songs in Folk Style | for high voice and piano; words by František Čelakovský František Celakovský František Ladislav Čelakovský, also known by the pseudonym Marcian Hromotluk, was a Czech writer and translator.-Life:... |
| – | 1940–1941 | Symfonie | Symphony | for orchestra; unfinished; orchestration completed by Zdeněk Zouhar |
| – | 1942 | Al s'fod | Do Not Lament | for male chorus; words by David Shimoni David Shimoni David Shimoni was an Israeli poet, writer and translator.David Shimonovitch was born in Babruysk in Belarus to Nissim Shimonovitch and Malka Fridland Although he lived in Ottoman Palestine for a year in 1909, he did not immigrate to British-administered Palestine... |
| – | 1943 | Studie pro smyčcový orchestr | Study for String Orchestra | |
| – | 1944 | Čtyři písně na slova čínské poezie 1. Zaslech jsem divoké husy 2. V bambusovém háji 3. Daleko měsíc je domova 4. Probděná noc |
4 Songs on Chinese Poetry 1. I Heard the Wild Geese 2. In the Bamboo Grove 3. The Moon Is Far from Home 4. A Sleepless Night |
poems by Wei Jing-wu, Wang-wei, Tchang Tiou-ling, Han I |
| – | The Advent | for mezzo-soprano, tenor and quintet | ||
| – | Fantasy on a Jewish Melody | |||
| – | Partita in Olden Style | for piano; lost | ||
| – | Terezín Songs | |||
| – | Tři skladby | Three Pieces | for mezzo-soprano, tenor, flute, clarinet and string quartet; lost | |
| – | Variace pro klavír a smyčcový orchestr | Variations for Piano and String Orchestra |
Recordings
- Šarlatán (complete opera) – Prague Philharmonic Choir, Prague State OperaPrague State OperaThe Prague State Opera , is an opera and ballet company in Prague, Czech Republic. The theatre was originally founded in 1888 as the New German Theatre and from 1949 to 1989 it was known as the Smetana Theatre....
Orchestra, Israel Yinon (conductor); Decca Record Company 460 042-2 (1998) - Pavel Haas: Orchestral Music – Staatsphilharmonie BrünnBrno Philharmonic OrchestraBrno Philharmonic Orchestra is an orchestra based in Brno, the Czech Republic. Its predecessor was the Czech Symphony Orchestra, dating from the 1870's. The current Brno Philharmonic was formed in 1956 with the merger of the Radio Orchestra and the Brno Region Symphony Orchestra, with Břetislav...
, Israel Yinon (conductor); Koch Schwann (1997)
-
- Scherzo triste, Op. 5
- Charlatan (opera suite), Op. 14
- Symphonie (unfinished)
- Janáček/Haas/Szymanowski: String Quartets Arranged for String Orchestra – Australian Chamber Orchestra, Richard Tognetti (conductor); Chandos CD 10016
- String Quartet No. 2 "Z opičích hor"String Quartet No. 2 (Haas)Pavel Haas composed his second string quartet, Op. 7, titled "From the Monkey Mountains" , in 1925, three years after he finished his composition studies in Leoš Janáček´s masterclass.- Background :...
, Op. 7- Pavel Haas: String Quartets 1-3 (Czech Degenerate Music, Volume 2) – Kocian Quartet; Praga Productions 250 118 (1998)
- Haas and Janáček String Quartets – Pavel Haas QuartetPavel Haas QuartetThe Pavel Haas Quartet is a Czech string quartet which was founded in 2002. Their first album with the second quartets of Haas and Janáček won the 2007 Gramophone Award for Chamber music...
, SupraphonSupraphonSupraphon Music Publishing is a Czech record label, it is oriented mainly towards publishing classical music, with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak composers.- History :...
SU 3922-2
- String Quartets No. 1 in C Sharp Minor, Op. 3
- String Quartets No. 3, Op. 15
- Pavel Haas: Bläserquintett, Suiten Op. 13 • Op. 17, Vyvolená – Jörg Dürmüller (tenor), Dennis Russell Davies (piano), Stuttgarter Bläserquintet; Orfeo International Music C 386 961 A (1996)
- Wind Quintet, Op. 10
- Suite for Piano, Op. 13
- Suite for Oboe and Piano, Op. 17
- Vyvolená, Op. 8
- Chamber Music of Pavel Haas – Ensemble Villa Musica; MD&G 304 1524-2
- Wind Quintet, Op. 10
- Suite for Oboe and Piano, Op. 17
- String Quartet No. 3, Op. 15
- Risonanza – Vilém Veverka (oboe), Ivo KahánekIvo KahánekIvo Kahanek is a Czech pianist regarded as one of the most gifted Czech musicians of his generation. Renowned for his lyrical poeticism and outstanding virtuosity, he won the Prague Spring International Music Competition in 2004 and gained awards at other leading international piano competitions...
(piano); Supraphon SU 3993-2
- Risonanza – Vilém Veverka (oboe), Ivo Kahánek
- Suite for Oboe and Piano
- Music from Theresienstadt – Wolfgang HolzmairWolfgang HolzmairWolfgang Holzmair is an Austrian baritone.Holzmair studied at the Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He won 2nd prize in the baritone class of the 's-Hertogenbosch International Vocal Competition in 1981, and a year later 1st prize in the Musikverein International Lieder Competition,...
(baritone), Russell Ryan (piano); Bridge Records 9280
- Music from Theresienstadt – Wolfgang Holzmair
- 4 Songs after Words of Chinese Poetry
- 4 Songs on Chinese Poetry, sung by Christian GerhaherChristian GerhaherChristian Gerhaher is a German baritone and bass singer in opera, concert and notably Lied.- Biography :Christian Gerhaher studied with Paul Kuen and Raimund Grumbach at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, and Lied with Friedemann Berger, already together with his accompanist for decades...
, appear on a CD Terezín/Theresienstadt initiated by Anne Sofie von Otter, Deutsche Grammophon, 2007. - KZ Musik: Encyclopedia of Music Composed in Concentration Camps, Volume 4 – Petr Matsuszek (baritone), Francesco LotoroFrancesco LotoroFrancesco Lotoro is an Italian pianist and musicologist.- Early career :After having studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Francesco Lotoro became a specialized piano player, studying with Kornél Zempléni, Viktor Merzhanov, Tamás Vásáry and Aldo Ciccolini...
(piano); KZ Music 231787
- 4 Songs on Chinese Poetry, sung by Christian Gerhaher
- Four Chinese Songs
The whole music written in Concentration Camps (including P. Haas' Study for Orchestra, 4 Chinese Songs and Al s'fod) are contained in the CD-Encyclopedia KZ MUSIK created by Francesco Lotoro (Musikstrasse Roma- Membran Hamburg), 2007
Sources
- Sadie, S. (ed.) (1980) The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, [vol. # 8].
- Ross, A. (2007) The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York
- Matějková, J. Hugo Haas. Život je pes Prague: Nakladatelství XYZ, 2005. ISBN 80-86864-18-9
External links
- Pavel Haas at the Czech Music Information Centre.
- Pavel Haas, a brief biographical entry on the Boosey and Hawkes site
- Comprehensive discography of Terezin Composers by Claude Torres
- Music and the Holocaust - Pavel Haas
- Further reading and listening on Terezín: The Music 1941-44Terezín: The Music 1941-44Terezín: The Music 1941–44 is a 2-CD set with music written by inmates at the Terezín concentration camp during World War II.Volume 1 contains chamber music by Gideon Klein, Viktor Ullmann, and Hans Krása; Volume 2 features the children's opera Brundibár by Krása, and songs by Ullmann and Pavel Haas...
- Pavel Haas Chamber Orchestra